In OBIEE 11g there is no link on the homepage for “Oracle Answers” like there was in the 10g version. Where is it or how to get it to appear?

Solution

BIEE 11g has been re-engineered in 11g, especially with the inclusion of WebLogic in the mid tier. A new look and feel is displayed from the 10g version. Now when connecting in 11g BIEE, you basically see Answers.

On the main 11g page, some of the latest Dashboards and Reports that have been created are displayed, plus there are still links to create a new report or open another dashboard.

So it is more a look and feel (cosmetic) change than anything else as the same functionality exists in both versions.

2.

Symptoms
In OBIEE Presentation Server log, you may see the following warning messages:

Customers did not run catalog upgrade from the previous 11g version to the current version. Therefore, we have to upgrade it at run time in memory without saving it (if the catalog is upgraded through upgrade process, it will be upgraded and saved permanently in the catalog.) We give this warning message to warn customers that it is recommended to perform the catalog upgrade otherwise the application will need to perform the upgrade in memory.

Solution
The resolution for the issue has been documented. It is suggested to use the following:

The server OS is Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition x86 32 bit and it has Microsoft IIS 7 on it.
The installation guide states that on selecting the Basic installation type, the installer should present an option to select either Oracle Containers for J2EE (OC4J) version 10.1.3.1 or Microsoft IIS, if IIS is installed on the server.
However, when you run the installer, you are not presented with this option.
Install guide says:

To deploy Oracle BI Presentation Services and Plug-in with Microsoft IIS 1 Choose Advanced or Basic installation type.
2 After you select the components to install, and if Presentation Services or Presentation Services
Plug-in are selected, you are prompted to select the application server.

Select Microsoft IIS.
The ISAPI plug-in is installed in IIS.
3 When the Basic installation type is selected, the installer installs a stand-alone version of OC4J and deploys Oracle BI Systems Management and Oracle BI Publisher in this container.

However the screen does not appear in order to select IIS.

Cause

IIS 7 not properly installed
Solution

You need to check that IIS7 is properly installed in that the following services are present and enabled:
WAS
W3SVC
IISADMIN
WMSVC
The installer checks that IIS is installed by checking that IISADMIN and W3SVC services are present and enabled.
IISADMIN service is only available if you have IIS 6 Management Compatibility options installed.
So install IIS6 Management Compatibility options for IIS7 and try again.

References

BUG:13599500

Applies to:

Business Intelligence Server Enterprise Edition – Version: 10.1.3.4.2 [2405] and later [Release: 10g and later ]
Information in this document applies to any platform.

NOTE: Unlike OBIEE 10g, there are not separate documents for the BI Server and BI Presentation Server. For OBIEE 11g, both the RPD and catalog security are described in the Security Guide.

How are security settings enabled / controlled in OBIEE 10g and 11g?

In OBIEE 10g, security is controlled at the following points: permissions on the OBIEE Presentation catalog, via the repository (users and passwords) and optionally via an external LDAP, or external tables.

In OBIEE 11g, the security policy is split across the OBIEE presentation catalog, repository and default 11g identity store (embedded WLS LDAP), or external LDAP (i.e. OID or other if used).

What are the primary differences between the OBIEE 10g and 11g security models and what happens during upgrade?

By default, existing users and groups migrated to embedded WLS LDAP. Existing groups are automatically mapped to an Application role.

Defining security policies

Policies in the catalog and repository can be defined to reference groups within a directory

Policies are defined in terms of application roles, which map to users and groups in a directory.

10g catalog groups are automatically migrated in the upgraded catalog and assigned the same privileges, access, and membership.

“Administrator” user

Unique user with full administrative privileges

No single user named for full administrative privileges. Administration can be performed by any user who is member of BIAdministrators group.

“Administrator” user automatically added as member of “BIAdministrators” group in embedded WLS LDAP and granted Administrator role. The user specified during OBIEE 11g installation (i.e. “weblogic”, “biadmin”) is also a member of the BIAdministrators group.

Upgraded RPD will continue to point to 10g LDAP or external tables. Initblocks may need to be modified to ensure that deprecated, or reserved word, variable names are renamed.
NOTE: If you intend to use another LDAP server, such as Oracle Identity Management (OID), then you must upgrade to the embedded LDAP server first, then
migrate to the production LDAP server. Please see Upgrade Guide for further details.

Catalog Groups

Defined in Presentation Server Administration link

Available for backward compatibility. Use of Application Roles in FMW EM Console recommended.

Existing groups will be migrated. Recommendation is to use application roles instead. Privileges on catalog objects may be granted to an application role via BI Presentation server Administration link.

SA System Subject Area

Optional

Available for backward compatibility and requires init blocks and external tables. Use of Embedded LDAP is recommended.

Upgraded 10g RPD will point to external tables. Initblocks may need to be modified to ensure that deprecated, or reserved word, variable names are renamed.